


Sally

by goddessofcruelty



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - War, Angst, Doctor Martha, Doctor/Patient, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Fluff, Pining, Rare Pairings, Soldier Sally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessofcruelty/pseuds/goddessofcruelty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes her over six hours to put Donovan back together, but when she steps back and surveys her work, Martha allows herself a tight smile. Not only will Donovan live, she'll only bear a few small scars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sally

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Wounded soldier and ~~nurse~~ _doctor_ AU
> 
> Note: I am neither any sort of medical professional, nor am I British. My apologies for any inaccuracies.

“I got another one, Doctor Jones!”

Martha sighs and wipes her forehead on her sleeve. “Be right there,” she calls out and focuses on sewing the sutures, steady hands not even twitching as she hears another blast close by. She finishes a perfect row of stitches and steps back for the nurse to take over, tugging off her gloves and tossing them in the medical waste bin.

Martha nabs a bottle of water, swigging it down as she walks across the large room that's serving as their temporary triage. She hates the desert, hates the dryness, hates the heat. The bottle gets tossed into the recycle bin, and she's reaching to pull on a pair of gloves as she approaches the new patient.

“Donovan,” the nurse informs her. “IED. Lacerations in the thigh, abdomen, and arm.” The nurse points them out as she reads the chart to Martha, who's already cleaning the first wounded area.

It takes her over six hours to put Donovan back together, but when she steps back and surveys her work, Martha allows herself a tight smile. Not only will Donovan live, she'll only bear a few small scars.

 _I am good_ , she thinks as she cleans herself up and ducks out into the hall for a protein bar before heading to the next victim.

-

“Doctor Jones?”

Martha looks up from her paperwork, rubbing her forehead with a sigh. “Yeah?”

“One of the patients is asking for you.”

Martha glances at the clock and nods. It's nearly time for her rounds anyway. “Alright.”

She heads to the ward indicated, and the woman she recognizes as Donovan sits up straight in her hospital bed, eyes widening. “ _You're_ Dr. Jones?” she says with incredulity in her voice. “I didn't know you were...” She trails off, color darkening her cheeks.

“...a woman?” Martha finishes dryly. She's heard that too many times to count.

Donovan shakes her head. “So _gorgeous_ ,” she says, flashing a bright smile.

Martha arches a brow, then rolls her eyes. “Good morphine, eh?” She's been hit on by patients before too. “The nurse said you were asking after me?”

Donovan nods and reaches out take one of Martha's hands. “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. Another doctor might have written me of, or not done as good a job, but I'm as good as new – well, nearly – and it's because of you. So thank you.”

Martha nods and smiles politely. “You're quite welcome, Donovan.” She gently extracts her hand. “Take care of yourself out there.”

“Sally,” Donovan says to Martha's retreating back. “My name is Sally.”

-

Even after Donovan is weaned off the morphine, she still flirts with Martha every chance she gets, telling her jokes and asking about her day, and in spite of herself, the doctor starts looking forward to seeing Donovan.

Which is why when they call for volunteers to move to the base West of where she's stationed for a few weeks, Dr. Jones in the first in line. She needs some space before she gets too attached. When she gets back, Donovan is gone, and Martha can breathe a sigh of relief and gets back to work.

Except.

She keeps automatically looking for Donovan's bright smile, listening for her to call out _Martha!_ in her irrepressible manner. (She'd somehow weaseled the doctor's first name out of a nurse and insisted on using it.) Martha casually asks after the woman, as well as several others, so as to not arouse anyone suspicion, and finds out that she's been sent back to London, given a medical discharge. Martha is relieved that Sally – Donovan – won't be hurt again. She does her best to put the woman from her mind, and succeeds in doing so – mostly – for the rest of her tour of duty.

-

When she gets back home, Martha goes back to being a physician, and reopens her loft with a gathering of her colleagues. It's very nice, but when she sinks into her queen-size bed afterward, Martha finds it very lonely.

She gets a cat and names it Sally.

Martha volunteers for Veterans UK on her days off, assisting with healthcare and the like, and one day as she's walking its halls, she hears a familiar laugh, one that takes her back to the desert, back to that brief moment in time like it was yesterday.

Martha comes around the corner to see Donovan with her arm linked with Dr. Hooper's, laughing at some joke the woman has said. Martha knows Molly, knows she's a good person, and forces herself to think charitably that it's good that Sally has found someone. It's too late for her to turn back around, so Martha just forces a professional smile, like she doesn't recognize Sally, and nods to Molly.

“Dr. Hooper,” she says quietly in greeting, and sweeps on past, compartmentalizing every last one of her traitorous feelings into a tiny box that she's not going to even think about until she's at home with her cat and an entire tub of ice cream.

“Dr. Jones,” Molly nods absently.

Martha is three steps past them when she hears her name, said in that voice that she's never forgotten.

“ _Martha_?”

She sets her jaw and forces that professional smile as she turns on her heel. “Yes?” she says pleasantly.

“Oh my god, Mols, that's _her_!” Sally steps forward and sweeps Martha into a hug, while she stares wide-eyed at Molly, who looks just as startled as she does. “I've been looking for you for years,” Sally accuses as she pulls away.

“Uh,” Martha says intelligently.

“You've got to let me take you to coffee. Raincheck, Molly?”

Dr. Hooper nods silently, and Martha finds herself shepherded out to the local coffeehouse, Sally chattering the entire way until they've got their drinks and a tiny booth in the corner.

“I can't believe it's really you,” Sally says, “Where have you been, what have you been up to?”

Martha somehow ends up telling Donovan all about her practice, about her loft, about her cat. Turns out Sally's a cop now, and a damned good one. “Thought some of the slobs I gotta put up with. Get real tired of having to prove myself sometimes, you know.”  
Martha does know, and she says so, and then there's discussion about politics and it's not until her phone rings that she realizes the time.

Sally insists on getting her number and Martha discovers that she cannot say no to this woman.

Which is how, less than a month later, they're tangled up together in that queen size bed, Donovan wrapped around her like an octopus, cat perched on the vanity, glaring down at them.

“I can't believe you named your cat Sally,” she murmurs against Martha's throat. “What a strange coincidence.”

Martha hums in noncommittal agreement and kisses the top of Sally's head. “The Universe is an odd place.”

 


End file.
